Oregon publishes its first report on pesticide use
Politics delayed the accounting; 40 million pounds of chemicals were applied last year
Scott Learn, The Oregonian
After a nine-year political scrum, Oregon released its first accounting of pesticide use Wednesday, cataloging more than 40 million pounds of 551 fumigants, herbicides and insecticides applied to the state's lands and waters in 2007.
The bulk of the pesticides, about 85 percent, were used for agriculture, from potato fields to nurseries to Christmas tree farms. Two of the top five chemicals applied -- the fumigants metam-sodium and 1,3-dichloropropene -- are listed as cancer causing in California's reporting system.
By the Legislature's design, the report from the Oregon Department of Agriculture included little context. Unlike California, the state didn't list the acres treated, for example, detail pesticides used on specific crops or itemize pesticides considered carcinogenic or reproductive toxins.
• Part 1: Oregon publishes its first report on pesticide use
